Malachi Love-Robinson—the 18-year-old Florida man who’s currently facing charges of grand theft larceny, check forgery, and practicing medicine without a license after allegedly misleading patients into thinking he was a qualified medical doctor—is out on bail following his Tuesday arrest and already giving press interviews. Bad idea, Dr. Love…
Sitting down with ABC News, Love-Robinson
continues to insist that he did nothing wrong, saying, “I have been studying this particular field for a while. It may not have been eight, nine, 10 years. It has been long enough to, I would say, justify what I do.”
As for what exactly he does, Love-Robinson says that he is fully qualified to treat patients in naturopathy and alternative medicine, but declines to get into specifics about his training.
“For one I have taken quite a bit of final exams and alternative medicine courses,” he tells ABC, then refusing to explain further.
Love-Robinson further defends himself, saying that he “did not perform any form of treatment” or give out diagnoses at his newly opened clinic. (The undercover sheriff’s agent who busted him after Love-Robinson examined her and told her that she wasn’t ill might say otherwise.)
As for the lab coat and stethoscope that he wears on a daily basis, he says, “The uniform of the office pertains to that particular office. The attire I had on is not specific to a specific type of MD.”
In a press conference, he told NBC, “I’ve [done] the steps that were necessary to take [me] where I am now. Some people may say that those steps weren’t ‘adequate’”—here he does air quotes—“or those steps were not the ‘traditional route’”—air quotes again—“but I can tell you now, I’ve never been a ‘traditional’ guy.”
Love-Robinson was also investigated in January for allegedly stealing checks from an elderly patient and forging them for cash.
Asked about it during the press conference, he replied with a brief “There are two sides to every story” and did not elaborate.
NBC also interviewed Love-Robinson’s grandfather, who’s a little more forthcoming about the young man’s mistakes, saying, “If he has slipped and done something wrong, I just ask that everybody prays for him.”
Asked about Love-Robinson in a previous interview, Dr. Sebastian Kent—an OB/GYN at the West Palm Beach hospital where Love-Robinson was caught pretending to be a doctor in 2015—seems to think that current circumstances go beyond mistakes and slip-ups.
“This guy can schmooze his way around, he can tell any story you want to hear,” he says. “That’s what he tried to do with me–he tried to ingratiate himself with me so I would take him around, and after a while it started to not make sense to me. I thought something was wrong.”
Love-Robinson—who claims to have a lawyer, but refuses to give news outlets the lawyer’s name—has yet to enter a plea.
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Image via ABC News.
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